Gajulapalli (Kurnool dist), Jan 10: Reiterating that farmers in the state are in distress, Leader of Opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has called upon all sections to join hands to teach Chandrababu Naidu a fitting lesson. Addressing a large gathering here on Monday as part of the Rythu Bharosa Yatra he said: ‘Though Srisailam has enough water, the TDP government has failed to give water to the rabi crop and farmers are facing many hardships ever since Chandrababu Naidu has come to power.

The water level at Srisailam has been above the 844 feet mark since August 16 but water was not released and farmers are left in the lurch,’ he said. When YSR was Chief Minister he had given water to farmers for all seasons while Chandrababu Naidu during the past three years has failed to give water even once, he said. This apart he has been staking false claims on the completion of irrigation projects which were brought to the stage of near completion by YSR.

From failure of loan waiver to non completion of irrigation projects, failure to give input subsidy, crop insurance and water on time besides MSP, TDP

has failed on many fronts and farmers in distress. Farmers are not getting price for turmeric, chilli, turmeric, grams, paddy and even onions and tomato and they are resorting to distress selling or leaving the crop in the field as the transport costs could not be covered if taken to market yards, he said.

Chilli which was sold at Rs 12,000 year is now yielding just Rs 7,000 per quintal and turmeric which normally fetches Rs 15,000 is being sold for Rs 7,000 per quintal which shows how desperate the farmers are and the indifference of the State Government, he said.

With the onion price sliding to Rs 2 per kg, farmers are leaving the crop in the fields and tomato which is not getting returns is thrown on the road which shows the state of affairs of farmers. In the cabinet meetings Chandrababu Naidu discusses not the farmers’ issues but how to snatch away lands and how to take away even the assigned lands and give them to his favoured few and Singapore companies.

He has failed on all other fronts as well. When YSR was Chief Minister he has built 48 lakhs houses as against the national figure of 45 lakh houses while TDP government has failed to build even a single house during the past three years.

YSR has brought quality education and medical care to the door steps of the poor through fees reimbursement and Aarogyasri, but Chandrababu Naidu has watered down both the schemes. Even for serious ailments like renal failure and cancer patients have to wait in turns and the allocation has been drastically cut down, he said. He called upon all sections to join hands to teach Chandrababu Naidu a fitting lesson.